


Around We Go

by snaeken



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ferris Wheels, First Kiss, Love Simon AU, M/M, Online Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22773250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snaeken/pseuds/snaeken
Summary: Liam has been talking toBlueholly427online for months. Tonight, at the Beacon Hills carnival, is either the night they're finally going to meet, or the night Liam will be humiliated in front of the entire town.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Nolan
Comments: 9
Kudos: 27





	Around We Go

Liam may never ride a ferris wheel again after this.

Garrett and Hayden are still waiting at the bottom, shouting occasional words of encouragement up at him. His night may not be going to plan but despite that, his best friends have chosen to stay here and support him rather than enjoy the carnival themselves. He didn’t think he could love them both any more than he already does but it turns out he was wrong; his heart may be breaking in one aspect, but it’s swelling in another - his appreciation for his best friends.

The stupid ride feels like it’s been going on for hours and he must be running out of tickets by now - when he first arrived at the carnival he gave the ferris wheel operator a pile of tickets, telling him to just keep the ride going until the tickets run out - but he can’t give up, not yet.

The ride jerks into motion and one by one, happy couples get off the ride, leaning into one another with their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders, smiles on their faces as they enjoy their happy nights and their happy relationships and their happy lives, until Liam reaches the ground. He’s the only one riding the ferris wheel alone, and he’s the only one who has been for the entire night.

Hayden is waiting at the bottom for him with a cup of hot chocolate that has a giant marshmallow floating on the top. He takes it with a grateful smile; being so high in the air is cold at this time of night.

“This is your last ticket, kid,” the operator says. Hayden’s eyes widen as she looks between them, then glances back at Garrett.

“Okay,” Liam replies around the lump forming in his throat.

“There’s still time, he’ll show up,” Hayden says, entirely unconvincingly. Liam appreciates the effort, even if he doesn’t believe her.

Blue isn’t coming.

 _Blueholly427_ , aka Blue, aka the guy Liam has been talking to online for the past couple of months, aka the guy Liam has a crush on, even if he doesn’t know who Blue is. He’s funny and thoughtful and sweet and smart and Liam loves talking to him.

The thing is, Liam has been at a disadvantage from day one; Blue sent a message to Liam’s school email account, congratulating him on his five lacrosse goals that night - a feat he’s not been able to match since, despite his best efforts - and telling him little personal details other than he’s a guy, and he has a crush on Liam. He said he was too nervous to speak to Liam in person so that’s why he emailed, but he’s remained too nervous to tell Liam who he actually is. He goes to Beacon Hills High School, that much Liam is sure of; Blue has spoken about things that only someone who goes to the same school as him could possibly know.

The ferris wheel has been slowly but surely filling up with other happy couples and now Liam is once again up at the top of the ride, cradling his hot chocolate in his hands, absorbing its warmth.

“ _Go Liam!_ ” Garrett shouts up at him from the ground, punctuated by a cheer from Hayden. He waves down at them, forcing a smile onto his face even though they probably can’t see it. They’ve been so good to him, not just tonight but from day one of the Blue saga, between their initial excitement at Liam having a secret admirer - Garrett informing him _Dude, I would’ve made out with you after that game too if I didn’t have Sean. Hell, Sean probably would’ve made out with you_ -, to Hayden’s subsequent scepticism at Blue’s reticence to reveal his identity, to the lead up to tonight where they were finally supposed to meet.

Liam sent Blue a text before the carnival - on a texting app which doesn’t use their real phone numbers - telling him where he would be all night. He knows Liam wants more, that he would love to talk to Blue in person everyday, to eat lunch together and let him get to know Garrett and Hayden - if he doesn’t already - and share snacks with each other and go to each other’s houses and go on dates around Beacon Hills and cuddle him and kiss him and generally have an outlet for all the love he has to give.

Because there’s so, so much love inside him. He knows he would make a great boyfriend, even if he hasn’t properly dated anyone before. He’s already given so much to Blue, so much personal information only Garrett and Hayden knew about him before.

He’s not stupid, he knows there’s every chance Blue could be a catfish; knows the chance of that is increasing with every rotation of the ferris wheel, minute by minute, second by second. The thoughts have gone through his head more than once and it’s been a not-infrequent topic of conversation between Garrett, Hayden and himself the longer this has gone on.

They definitely live in Beacon Hills, it would be impossible for them not to, but the fact of the matter is Blue could be anyone; someone he’s friends with, someone on the lacrosse team, someone in one of his classes, hell, maybe even someone from Devenford Prep who’s well connected; he knows he still has a handful of enemies from when he attended there.

Maybe he has been stupid, after all; confiding in Blue, all the things they’ve talked about which are neatly logged electronically, which could so easily be spread for the entire school to see, for him to be humiliated and mocked for the rest of his time at high school and beyond.

He just hoped Blue would be real.

The ferris wheel starts its final descent and tears prick in the corners of his eyes. He furiously scrubs them away with the backs of his knuckles, hissing a _fuck_ under his breath as he slams his open palm once, twice against the safety bar.

That’s it, then. No more Blue. Regardless of who he is, even if he doesn’t socially humiliate Liam, he can hardly message Blue again. Not after this.

Garrett and Hayden are waiting for him at the bottom of the ride, sympathetic smiles on their faces, although Hayden has a righteous fury simmering in her eyes. He’s grateful to be able to stand up again, if nothing else; he’s sore from sitting down for so long.

“Can we go?” he croaks. They pull him into a fierce group hug.

“Of course,” Hayden says, leaning her head against his.

“Sleepover at mine,” Garrett adds. “We can get whatever snacks you want.”

“And we can look for hoarding documentaries you haven’t seen yet.” Then, under her breath, “Even though I still think they’re weird.”

Liam gives a watery laugh. “I love you guys.” He tries to smile at them, blinking away tears - he absolutely refuses to cry in public, not like this - as they break away and start the walk back to Hayden’s car. “Sorry for ruining your night.”

“Don’t,” Hayden says darkly. “Listen to me, Liam Dunbar. This is not your fault, do you understand me? _Not. Your. Fault._ If I ever find out who Blue is, I swear I’ll rip his intestines out and shove them so far up his-”

“Uh, Liam?”

“Not now, Nolan,” Hayden snaps.

“Wait.” Garrett braces a hand over both their chests, and it doesn’t take long to see why; although Liam’s eyes are still stinging, he looks, really looks at Nolan, the way he’s panting and his cheeks are flushed red, at the two ride tickets clutched in his hand.

 _Holy shit_ , Hayden says at the same time Liam realises, “It’s you.”

“Do you, uh, want to go on the ferris wheel with me?” Nolan asks, pitching up so high at the end that his voice almost cracks. He coughs, grimacing. “My treat?”

Nolan. His friend and lacrosse teammate, Nolan, with his tanned skin and bright blue eyes and a spattering of freckles on his nose. Liam has felt such a whirlwind of emotions over the course of the evening, it’s almost as if he’s struggling to process the boy standing in front of him.

“I need you to say it.”

It takes a moment for Liam to realise the words came from his own mouth, but when he does, he repeats them. “I need you to say it.”

Nolan audibly exhales before looking directly into his eyes. “I’m Blue.”

The despair filling his chest collapses in on itself, leaving faint but growing flickers of hope. He’s not sure how, but he knows Nolan is telling the truth. It’s him. It’s Nolan.

“Are you guys willing to hang around for one more ride?” he asks Garrett and Hayden. They agree, Hayden smiling at him and Garrett squeezing his shoulder, backing off somewhat as Liam falls into step beside Nolan, neither of them saying anything until the reach the ferris wheel again. Nolan hands the tickets over and the operator - who has been stoically expressionless all night - curls one lip up in an approximation of a smile, winking at Liam as he secures the safety bar for them.

“I’m sorry I’m so late,” Nolan blurts the second the ride starts to ascend. “This is seriously the lamest excuse ever and I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I was drawing and I lost track of time. I didn’t check my phone until I was done, but when I saw your text I ran the whole way here.”

It _is_ an awful excuse but, from past experience, he knows it’s also a genuine one; more than once, Nolan has almost missed the bus for away games because he’s sat down to do a _quick sketch_ before leaving, arriving with pencil smudges on his red cheeks as Coach Finstock unleashes his cacophonous wrath.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let me think-” Liam breaks off because he can feel his throat constricting again.

“I thought…” Nolan sighs. “I thought you would work out it was me. I thought you _knew_ it was me. But then you didn’t say anything, and I got it into my head maybe you wouldn’t want _me_ , and then the longer we talked and the more we really got to know each other, the more worried I got about it. I was scared of getting hurt and because of that, I hurt you instead. I’m so sorry, Liam.”

“ _Blueholly427_. How was I supposed to know?”

“My eyes are blue, and-”

“Like, eighty per cent of the guys in Beacon Hills have blue eyes.”

“I wouldn’t say-”

“We both have blue eyes.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Garrett has blue eyes.”

“Okay-”

“Sean has blue eyes.”

“You’re-”

“Brett has blue eyes. Theo has- well, he claims they’re green but honestly who kno-”

“ _Okay_. I get your point. Yeah, that was dumb.” Nolan smiles and Liam can’t help smiling back. “ _Holly_ as in _Holloway_.”

“Oh.” Nolan’s surname. “Now I’m the dumb one. And-” the last piece of the puzzle slots into place. Liam brings his hands up to his face and groans. “Four-twenty-seven. Your birthday.”

“My birthday,” Nolan echoes. “I was sure you would figure it out from that.”

For Nolan’s birthday, the guys on the lacrosse team all went ice skating, then had a barbecue on the beach. It was a great day, all of them laughing at each other as they discovered how a group of guys who are so coordinated on the field can be equally as uncoordinated when wearing ice skates. He thinks Nolan - who he knows used to play hockey - was maybe the only one who wasn’t covered in bruises for the next week. He told Blue all about it afterwards, saying how much fun he had. And it was Nolan the entire time.

“I really am sorry,” Nolan says. His knuckles are white from how hard he’s gripping the safety bar; Liam places his right hand on top of Nolan’s left.

“Did you mean it? All that stuff about your confidence? How you don’t think you’re good enough?”

Nolan squeezes his eyes shut. “I meant every word I said to you. It was real, all of it.”

_On the days I don’t feel good enough, like everyone else knows what they’re doing and I’ll never make it, I always know I can talk to you and you’ll make me feel better. You make me feel like someone sees me. You make me feel cared for._

Nolan shifts his hand; Liam starts to pull away but Nolan just flipped his hand over so they can clasp their fingers together. Nolan squeezes and smiles at him. Liam squeezes and smiles back.

“So.” Nolan bites down on his bottom lip, a bad habit he’s never been able to kick but one which has left his lip looking plump and juicy. “If you’re willing to give me a chance, I’d love for you to get to know me better as Nolan instead of just as Blue.”

Liam has had enough of words; for the past couple of months since they first started talking via email and then via text, words are all they’ve had. For most of that time, Liam has wanted more; he’s wanted the stuff you can’t do electronically, that you can only do when you’re face to face with the person you care about.

He cups Nolan’s cheek and kisses him. After a moment’s surprise, Nolan kisses him back, slow and deep; his bottom lip is just as plump as it looks. Hayden and Garrett are whooping and cheering from the ground when they break apart. Liam beams at Nolan and waves down at his best friends.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Nolan says, smiling at him; his cheeks are red for a different reason now.

“I want to do it again,” Liam smiles as the ferris wheel begins what is _this time_ its final descent. He could maybe be convinced to ride a ferris wheel again, if this is what he gets to do on them.

“So do it,” Nolan tells him.

So he does.


End file.
